Tutoring Services
by sweetheartbreaker
Summary: Sakura is having a hard time processing the rumors about her tutor in her head: boring, not fun, silent, nosebleeding… Because she knew they were not true.


**Tutoring Services**

The pink haired girl glanced nervously sideways before fully entering the room the where she was supposed to be tutored on. The seemingly empty room looked eerily quiet for a room at Konoha Academy at the busy (or rather, the we-are-busy-doing-nothing) hours of the students. She took the seat nearest to her and placed her books on her table.

Who says she was comfortable with these? No way in hell! She unsteadily fiddled with her fingers the way her friend, Hinata does, and replayed what had happened earlier that day.

Iruka-sensei had proudly told the class that the school had been topping the quiz bees for the past 10 years announced that the class was going to hold eliminations for the freshmen. Sakura sat up straighter on her seat in anticipation. She was sure she would enter this quiz bee. She was the top of the class after all!

The teacher handed out the test papers they were going to answer. "In 50 minutes, you're going to answer all those items," Iruka-sensei said and raised a stop watch. Sakura leafed through the paper, or rather, test booklet. They were supposed to answer 120 items in 50 minutes? How crazy was that? Sakura's nerves tingled in excitement. "Ready? Go!"

For a good 50 minutes, Sakura's eyes went top speed on reading the questions and her mind went 100 miles per hour on processing everything. When Iruka-sensei announced it was time, she took a deep breath and wore a triumphant smile. She's so acing this test.

She took her bag and walked out leisurely out the classroom together with her grumpy looking classmates. Her best friend, Ino walked alongside her also complaining. "Can you believe that! He gave a pop quiz! On the spot! Bam! Failed!" Ino shook her head in dismay. She then turned to her best friend. "You don't look disappointed at all."

Sakura let out a soft giggle. "Of course. The test was a piece o'cake," she smiled at her best friend who looked at her like she was the alien-est person she ever made friends with.

"I can't believe you!" she shrieked, though why, Sakura didn't understand. "You're so lucky!"

Sakura blinked twice. "Huh?"

Ino crossed her arms and stopped on her tracks. Sakura followed suit. "Don't tell me you don't know?"

"Know what? Am I supposed to know anything?"

Ino slapped her forehead and let out an exasperated sigh which kind of said _Oh Kami, help me._ "Iruka-sensei might have boasted about the school winning 10 years in a row, but he didn't mention what happened last year." Ino continued to walk.

Sakura, though confused, still followed. "What happened then?"

"Our school won without giving the other schools any chance of answering the questions. We won by a total landslide," Ino whispered, savoring each word, as if the victory just happened seconds ago.

Her best friend's words were like a swatter accidentally mistaking her face as a fly. Her throat went dry and for moments she was unable to think. "Wow, that is a challenge," she murmured. "That must be quite a team they formed together, and to top over that achievement, that would require lots of training."

Ino looked unbelievingly at her best friend. "That's not the point."

"It's not?" Sakura asked, getting more confused. I mean, come on! If the school wins that way, then, if ever Sakura get into the competition, she should be able to help a lot to her teammates, right? That is quite a handful to take.

Ino shook her head. "The point is the person winning the competition." Sakura's brow furrowed. "It's Uchiha Sasuke," her best friend whispered. "He's the one who answered all the questions and made our team win by the humungous landslide. He was a freshman, then, and the higher years kicked back and relaxed during the bee because the Uchiha became a one-man team."

Uchiha… Sasuke? Sakura felt like going to a coma.

"That's not just it," Ino said in a hurry, considering they were running late to their next class. "Because of that, he's banned from the quiz bee from that day on." She paused for a dramatic effect. "Now he's a junior, he's the one who's going to tutor the qualifyers one-on-one for the quiz bee."

Sakura almost wanted to die.

Sure enough, it was her who got _over_ qualified for the quiz bee. She had a perfect mark on the exam, which was really no big deal to her. But to be tutored by Uchiha Sasuke? Just the thought gave Sakura the jitters.

Well, it's not like she hated the person. She actually liked him. As in like _like._ Very much, too. She had started having a crush on him since she was in grade school when Sasuke was always spotted walking alone to their house (mansion). He's so down to earth, she had always thought. Being the second son of the richest man in their village was something. He was the heir to one or two of their businesses. Maybe three or four. But it didn't show. He's only like any other kid.

But aside that. He's rather quiet and studious. He has lots of admirers but he never shows interest in any of them. What chance does Sakura has? Every time she comes across him or crosses his path, she carefully looks at her feet and shuffles away nervously. She never has the courage to stand up to him. Until that day.

She was in third grade then and Sakura was walking home and peacefully munching on an apple Ino gave her as a little something. Ino gave her a bag of them and she had a trouble carrying them home. She, then, came across a group of bullies, probably high schoolers, surrounding a first grade in her school. The little boy was crying and worse, they were taunting him of something she didn't quite understand. Her first instinct? Throw the apple. The apple hit the biggest of the bullies.

That got their attention.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Pick on someone your own size!"

The boys all grinned. The one she'd hit crossed his arms and said in a deep ugly voice, "Have it your way Missy." They began advancing slowly.

From the plastic bag she was holding, she grabbed an apple and threw it. _Bonk!_ It hit the smallest in the group on the head who Sakura recognized was in her grade school. He immediately passed out. She took out another one, "Come and get it," she warned, though she wasn't feeling very confident.

The leader, Mr. Ugly, balled his fist. Without warning he charged. Sakura threw the apple after computing the force she needed to exert, it's acceleration, the parabolic projectile and… never mind. She threw the apple but the leader expertly dodged it and got ready to hit. Sakura closed her eyes and braced for impact, but for many heartbeats, nothing.

She opened her eyes. She saw the bullies running away. Though confused, she laughed triumphantly, almost obnoxiously. "Ha! Scared of apples huh!" she yelled at them. "You guys better not come back!" She threw another apple at them which hit one of them but did nothing but topping him off balance. The kid was nowhere in sight, probably ran away without her noticing.

Then she turned to her direction home, with another apple in her hands. She happily took a bite, relieved to escape in one piece. Then she bumped into a post. Or she thought it was a post. She looked up to see the amused face of Uchiha Sasuke.

"Nice apple throwing," he said.

So it was him who managed to scared those bad guys away making no noise. It was just probably his presence. Touching an Uchiha might cost those guys their houses, their money or even their lives. She was grateful he passed along this road. "Uh… thanks," she managed.

He took the bitten apple in her hands and took a bite, too. "Sweet," he munched.

"Uh…" Sakura blushed. Then, she did what she thought was right. Run away! Which was probably the thing she should have done when she met the bullies.

With that embarrassing thought in mind, Sakura could never bring herself to meet Sasuke again. Even if he could have already forgotten that, she would still die in embarrassment for running away. She nervously waited for him, thinking about what to say.

Then the door burst open, revealing the annoyed form of the Uchiha. She gulped, thinking that he looked cuter this way than when she first saw him up close. Sasuke looked at her with piercing eyes but when she looked back, his posture began to crumble. Then he laughed.

For some reason, she found that pretty weird. She was sure she never heard anyone spreading rumors that he laughs. Only that he looked good and intimidating being all quiet and such. "Uh…"

"I'm sorry," he cut himself. "I just thought I remembered you."

Sakura felt her cheeks burning.

"Apple Girl, right?" She nodded, thinking how awful her nickname was. "Uchiha Sasuke," he held out his hand.

"Haruno Sakura," Sakura choked, shaking the hand. It felt oddly warm. "I'm, uh, pleased to… to meet you, Sasuke-senpai."

Sasuke looked at her curiously before sitting down beside her. "No need to look all flustered," he said. "I totally forgot the day we first met," he smiled brightly, as if that day just yesterday. This Sasuke was totally different from the Sasuke they were all talking about.

Sakura nodded unenthusiastically. "I think we should go first with Math, Senpai. I have a hard time on it," she admitted as Sasuke took the seat beside her and leafed through the books she brought. Though she was pretty good at it, she still couldn't memorize all those formulae together.

Sasuke shook his head. "I doubt you even need it," he said. "You've already perfected the test Iruka-sensei gave. That was the exact test questions they gave us during the quiz bee last year."

"Eh?"

Sasuke chuckled, which was still unusual, but very good to hear. "No need to sound surprised," he patted her pink hair. "I had an easy time on it myself."

Both of them laughed. Sakura became comfortable in his presence and decided that no one really knows this side of him, which made her feel… special. "I'm glad I threw the apple that day," she blurted than immediately covered her mouth. _Nice going Miss Loud Mouth_. "Uh, I mean, because you remembered me, senpai," she laughed nervously.

He smiled at her. "I guess so," he agreed. "This is probably the longest conversation I had with a girl," he admitted. "Probably with any other human being." Sakura's eyes widened. "I guess you broke your record that day. That was longest sentence I could come up with in years."

Sakura looked confused as ever. "Senpai?"

He tilted his head at her. "I'm only going tutor you, ok, Sakura-chan?" he said. "Let's meet every after school, ok?"

She nodded. She didn't understand why though. He was the one who said she didn't need tutoring anymore.

"Maybe at a café," he said, looking out the window. "Do you like latte?"

"Uh-huh."

"Me, too," he smiled. "Ok, then. We'll meet every 4:30 in the afternoon in the nearest café at your house in weekdays. At weekends, I'll pick you up at home and we'll go to an amusement park. We'll still meet probably even after the quiz bee which is 3 months from now, then you'll be my girlfriend. How does that sound?"

Sakura's cheeks were burning. This was totally not the Sasuke she expected. "Uh, can we just review, senpai?"

He nodded. "Yeah, maybe I'm going way too fast. You can drop the senpai, though. I'm just as old as you. 1995, March 28, right?"

She looked at him unbelievingly but nodded.

"You're older than me by about two months," he said like an afterthought.

"When they said you perfected the quiz, I was annoyed that someone broke my record," he laughed at himself. "But when I saw it was you, well, I reconsidered." He smiled at her. "I'll assure you that this tutoring is service is going to be fun."

She smiled back. Maybe being his girlfriend won't be bad. Will it?

She met Ino the next day. "How did the tutoring go?" she asked. Before Sakura could answer, she said, "Most of the students in his class say he's totally boring because he doesn't say much but 'Hn' and 'Aa'. That sucks for you, huh?"

Sakura laughed. "Maybe," she shrugged. "Then it would totally suck because Sasuke-kun would meet me through the school year."

She left Ino standing there with her mouth agape, happy that she finally had her best friend confused. _This is going to be the best tutoring service, ever._


End file.
